It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. Yes, Chef chronicles Marcus Samuelsson’s remarkable journey from Helga’s humble kitchen to the opening of the beloved Red Rooster in Harlem.

Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

In the 10 years since his classic Kitchen Confidential first alerted us to the idiosyncrasies and lurking perils of eating out, much has changed for the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business and for Anthony Bourdain. Medium Raw explores those changes, tracking Bourdain's strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even to fatherhood. Bourdain takes no prisoners as he dissects what he's seen.

The Professor and the Madman

Part history, part true-crime, and entirely entertaining, listen to the story of how the behemoth Oxford English Dictionary was made. You'll hang on every word as you discover that the dictionary's greatest contributor was also an insane murderer working from the confines of an asylum.

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has been at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world.

Heat

From one of our most interesting literary figures, former editor of Granta, former fiction editor at The New Yorker, acclaimed author of Among the Thugs, a sharp, funny, exuberant, close-up account of his headlong plunge into the life of a professional cook.

Who I Am

From the voice of a generation: the most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who wanted The Who to be called The Hair; wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer and a graphic designer; became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor; drank too much and nearly died; detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died; planned to write his memoir when he was 21; and published this book at 67.

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

>When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.

The Soul of a Chef: The Journey toward Perfection

In his second in-depth foray into the world of professional cooking, Michael Ruhlman journeys into the heart of the profession. Observing the rigorous Certified Master Chef exam at the Culinary Institute of America, the most influential cooking school in the country, Ruhlman enters the lives and kitchens of rising star Michael Symon and the renowned Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. This fascinating audiobook will satisfy any listener's hunger for knowledge about cooking and food, the secrets of successful chefs, at what point cooking becomes an art form, and more.

The Dog Stars

Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists beyond the airport.

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty fierce, hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Above all she sought family, particularly the thrill and the magnificence of the one from her childhood that, in her adult years, eluded her. Hamilton’s ease and comfort in a kitchen were instilled in her at an early age when her parents hosted grand parties, often for more than one hundred friends and neighbors.

The Bocuse d'Or is the real-life Top Chef, a biannual cooking competition in France featuring teams from 24 countries vying for the top honors. Named after Paul Bocuse, one of the greatest, most influential living chefs, the Bocuse d'Or has become the most sophisticated and closely watched cook-off in the world. Ironically, though American cuisine now rates among the best in the world, a U.S. team has never placed among the top three in the competition.

The Cider House Rules

From one of America's most beloved and respected writers comes the classic story of Homer Wells, an orphan, and Wilbur Larch, a doctor without children of his own, who develop an extraordinary bond with one another.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells, taken without her knowledge, became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first immortal human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years.

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Why we think it’s a great listen: You thought he was a stodgy scientist with funny hair, but Isaacson and Hermann reveal an eloquent, intense, and selfless human being who not only shaped science with his theories, but politics and world events in the 20th century as well. Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel

Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack is a letter addressed to Harold from a woman he hasn't seen or heard from in 20 years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person.

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband and their toddler holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation-performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, and counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy's two years of training, taking listeners behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple.

Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times

At the age of 22, Jennifer Worth left her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in postwar London’s East End slums. The colorful characters she met while delivering babies all over London - from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lived to the woman with 24 children who couldn't speak English to the prostitutes and dockers of the city’s seedier side - illuminate a fascinating time in history.

Middlemarch

Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.

Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line

In this urgent and unique book, chef Michael Gibney uses 24 hours to animate the intricate camaraderie and culinary choreography in an upscale New York restaurant kitchen. Here listeners will find all the details, in rapid-fire succession, of what it takes to deliver an exceptional plate of food - the journey to excellence by way of exhaustion. Told in second-person narrative, Sous Chef is an immersive, adrenaline-fueled run that offers a fly-on-the-wall perspective on the food service industry, allowing listeners to briefly inhabit the hidden world behind the kitchen doors, in real time.

Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? Why does a paper clip bend? These are the sorts of questions that Mark Miodownik is constantly asking himself. A globally renowned materials scientist, Miodownik has spent his life exploring objects as ordinary as an envelope and as unexpected as concrete cloth, uncovering the fascinating secrets that hold together our physical world.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

Today is Leonard Peacock's birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather's P-38 pistol. But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart - obsessed next-door neighbor, Walt; his classmate Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school's class on the Holocaust.

Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant

Food writer and clinical psychologist Scott Haas wanted to know what went on inside the mind of a top chef - and what kind of emotional dynamics drove the fast-paced, intense interactions inside a great restaurant. To capture all the heat and hunger, he spent 18 months immersed in the kitchen of James Beard Award-winner Tony Maws's restaurant, Craigie on Main, in Boston. He became part of the family, experiencing the drama first-hand.

The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, The Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World

The Clockwork Universe is the story of a band of men who lived in a world of dirt and disease but pictured a universe that ran like a perfect machine. A meld of history and science, this book is a group portrait of some of the greatest minds who ever lived as they wrestled with natures most sweeping mysteries. The answers they uncovered still hold the key to how we understand the world.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone - and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything....

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

In the mid-70s, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. Born Standing Up is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away".

Publisher's Summary

Audie Award Nominee, Narration by the Author or Authors, 2013

It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations.

Marcus Samuelsson was only three years old when he, his mother, and his sister - all battling tuberculosis - walked 75 miles to a hospital in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Adaba. Tragically, his mother succumbed to the disease shortly after she arrived, but Marcus and his sister recovered, and one year later they were welcomed into a loving middle-class white family in Göteborg, Sweden. It was there that Marcus’s new grandmother, Helga, sparked in him a lifelong passion for food and cooking with her pan-fried herring, her freshly baked bread, and her signature roast chicken. From a very early age, there was little question what Marcus was going to be when he grew up.

Yes, Chef chronicles Marcus Samuelsson’s remarkable journey from Helga’s humble kitchen to some of the most demanding and cutthroat restaurants in Switzerland and France, from his grueling stints on cruise ships to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a coveted New York Times three-star rating at the age of 24. But Samuelsson’s career of “chasing flavors”, as he calls it, had only just begun - in the intervening years, there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs, and, most importantly, the opening of the beloved Red Rooster in Harlem.

At Red Rooster, Samuelsson has fufilled his dream of creating a truly diverse, multiracial dining room - a place where presidents and prime ministers rub elbows with jazz musicians, aspiring artists, bus drivers, and nurses. It is a place where an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, living in America, can feel at home.

With disarming honesty and intimacy, Samuelsson also opens up about his failures - the price of ambition, in human terms - and recounts his emotional journey, as a grown man, to meet the father he never knew. Yes, Chef is a tale of personal discovery, unshakable determination, and the passionate, playful pursuit of flavors - one man’s struggle to find a place for himself in the kitchen, and in the world.

What the Critics Say

"The Red Rooster's arrival in Harlem brought with it a chef who has reinvigorated and reimagined what it means to be American. In his famed dishes, and now in this memoir, Marcus Samuelsson tells a story that reaches past racial and national divides to the foundations of family, hope, and downright good food." (President Bill Clinton)

"I've read a lot of chefs' books, but never anything like this one. Marcus Samuelsson has had such an interesting life, and he talks about it with touching modesty and remarkable candor. I couldn't put this book down." (Ruth Reichl, best-selling author of Tender at the Bone)

"Marcus Samuelsson has an incomparable story, a quiet bravery, and a lyrical and discreetly glittering style - in the kitchen and on the page. I liked this book so very, very much." (Gabrielle Hamilton, best-selling author of Blood, Bones, & Butter)

I initially chose this book expecting to read a few good stories about food and anecdotes about people in the industry. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the chef has pulled off the rare feat of infusing this account of his quest for flavors with compelling (but not preachy) lessons about life.

Chef Samuelsson's accent (mostly stress patterns and unorthodox pronunciation of certain words and groupings) takes a little getting used to, but his lovely voice, command of the various foreign languages mentioned in the book, and emotional connection to the story make the adjustment easier, and more importantly, are unlikely to be found in narrators for hire that quite a few long-time Audible listeners complain about.

This is *not* one of those memoirs that practically anyone with some measure of media exposure seems to be hacking out these days and whose content is probably not even worth the paper and ink that went into the production of the physical volume. The writing and the way Chef Samuelsson frame the narrative were excellent and reflected the same incredible focus that has earned him well-deserved accolades and success. I will let my fellow listeners get acquainted with the wonderful details of the story, especially the chef's family, but I must express my admiration for their uncommon decency and work ethic.

While the descriptions of food and all of its pleasures in this memoir are just lovely, I am more impressed by Marcus Samuelsson's storytelling abilities and his brutal honesty. Here is a hard-working chef who traveled all over the world and faced some pretty significant challenges to master his craft, and, in doing so, admittedly neglected some responsibilities in other areas of his life. Samuelsson's background and story are unique, and his passion and determination refreshing. But by far, the best part of this fascinating memoir is the fact that Samuelsson himself narrates it. His voice does take some getting used to - he sometimes emphasizes syllables that a native English speaker wouldn't, and pauses in unexpected places of his narration - but it makes the book truly come alive and it's wonderful to hear him speak in the many different languages he's learned from all the kitchens he's been in.

I don't usually read memoirs, but the only other one I've read is Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. There's no comparison.

What about Marcus Samuelsson’s performance did you like?

It was great to hear him read his own work and know when some of his revelations were working on his emotions.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No--it wasn't "fast food" but rather a fine meal to be savored over time.

Any additional comments?

I don't usually read memoirs, but a recommendation from another LT reader convinced me to give this one a try--and I'm glad that I did. I knew the bare bones of Marcus Samuelsson's story--that he was adopted from Africa by a Swedish couple and worked his way up to become a top chef in America--and I had seen him on TV. But his memoir proves him to be both a dedicated chef and, as an author, a brutally honest man who examines his own mistakes unflinchingly.

Samuelsson doesn't remember much about Africa; he was less than two years old when his mother, who was suffering from tuberculosis, walked many miles to get treatment for him and his older sister. She died in the hospital, and the children were quickly adopted by a forty-ish Swedish couple. Most of his memories are of a loving home, and of the grandmother who first sparked his interest in food. But as might be expected, there were also times when it wasn't easy being a black boy in a small Swedish town.

Samuelsson's early years as rising as a chef were marked by absolute ambition, and he paid an emotional price. He missed the funerals of both his father and grandmother, and he neglected a daughter born out of wedlock until she was 14 (although his parents paid his child support--and billed him later--and kept in touch with Zoe). But there's no whining here: Samuelsson admits his mistakes and takes the blame for their repercussions. After he had achieved a good measure of success and had time to reflect on what was lost, it was too late to mend some fences. But Samuelsson worked to build a relationship with Zoe and with his newly-rediscovered Ethiopian family.

Samuelsson gives us a fascinating look into the world of elilte chefs, a world that is at one moment cutthroat and at the next takes the term "networking" to new heights. But Yes, Chef is more than a professional memoir; it's the very human story of a man I've come to respect.

Chef Sammuelsson is a role model with appeal across geographic, social and ethnic boundaries. Ethiopian by birth, Swedish by nationality, he brings and shares with the world his diametric background in his cooking and to this autobiography.

This book, read by the author, is a treasure if you can get over the fact that his reading, in parts, is a little, for lack of a better word, clunky. You have to cut the author some slack, as English is just one of many languages he speaks, his native tongue being Swedish.

This book is full of wonderful descriptions of food, and if one is familiar with the ingredients and has a strong sense memory, one can almost taste the food being served.

Mr. Sameulsson's story is compelling and message-driven. At the beginning, I was a little annoyed at his attempt to turn his story into one about race. (Race issues in the 90s? Really?) But in the end, the totality of his experiences, especially his work in Harlem, did justify the tack he took.

This work provides a wonderful sense of how the author has grown as a chef, a businessman, a father and a son. And the arc of the book does resolve on a high and positive note. It's an improbable story told with heart.

All that aside, this listening experience was worthwhile just to hear the author read the word, "lemongrass."

I loved the book. Marcus Samuelson has loads of guts, grit and talent. His honesty about his life with all of its various twists and turns is both refreshing and inspiring. He has also awakened a flavor journey in me that is becoming something of a quest. Our lives are no where near the same but our desire to chase down the perfect bite and claim it with a signature resonates with me on a host of levels. I'll happily listen to this book again in the future.

I listened to this memoir while my mom has been on hospice for brain cancer and I am starting to consider international adoption. It is honest, humble, and educational.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Yes, Chef?

When he talks about not getting on a soccer team and how years later, as a famous chef, he sometimes still thinks of himself as the guy who didn't get on the soccer team. Then he snaps out of it and keeps on going. Marcus has many setbacks but he also has many lucky breaks and loving people who he recognizes for their actions.

What does Marcus Samuelsson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Marcus has a Swedish accent and a lisp. Sometimes the pronunciation of English words is different. Some writers would have somebody else read the book. To me, his own reading added a lot to the story. There was not a dull section in the entire reading. I learned about Ethiopia, Sweden, the world of the professional kitchen, about friendship, and loss, and international adoption, love, and the many ways people can be good people.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes - I looked forward to getting back to it when my mom was dozing. I never lost track of the story in between listening sessions.

Any additional comments?

Thank you Marcus Samuelsson for engrossing me in learning, entertainment, and encouragement during one of the most difficult times of my life. Thank you for writing and reading your own story. I had never heard of you before I browsed and found this book on Audible, but now I will never forget you.

Where does Yes, Chef rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Yes Chef is the first and only audiobook I've listened to and the best!

What other book might you compare Yes, Chef to and why?

It definitely compares with Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.

Have you listened to any of Marcus Samuelsson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. I have watched him on TV. He's a natural, with a great (Swedish?) dress sense (apart from all those other wonderful culinary and kitchen skills he clearly has.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Mr Samuelsson's memories of his birth mother was petty compelling. Death of his friend in Switzerland.

Any additional comments?

For me it is just magic to hear this author read his story. I drive lots and, listening to this memoir, I was sometimes moved to tears and sometimes chuckling and laughing as each chapter rolled out. It is a very inspiring memoir. I particularly admire Mr Samuelsson's ability to write in English. Astonishing level of literacy in English. Many native speakers never reach this level of rhythm and rhetorical sophistication.

I haven't finished reading/listening to it. I don't want to finish it! I hope it never ends. I'm sure Mr Samuelsson feels the same way too!!! ;-)

Yes to this story and Yes to Marcus Samuelsson, who tells his fascinating story. His journey starts as an Ethiopian orphan adopted by Swedish parents. He learned to cook at his grandmother's side as a little boy, eventually going to cooking school, traveling and cooking around the world and finally ending up in New York where his talent was allowed to shine. There he became the youngest chef to be awarded 3 stars by the The New York Times.

Although this book is another American dream story, it is also the story of Marcus Samuelsson's love affair with food. As with the wonderful bio, "Blood, Bones & Butter," this is an engrossing book that combines all the elements of great story telling, (once again, truth is stranger than fiction) as well as making you hungry along the way. I only wish Audible would have included a set of downloadable photos to go along with the story that are in the paper book. This is a book every food lover should read or listen to.

I wanted to listen to 'Yes, Chef' to learn a little more about world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson, owner of Harlem's Red Rooster and famous TV personality. I had hoped to be entertained, and to understand what it takes to become such a highly awarded chef like Marcus. What I hadn't expected was to be moved to tears almost immediately and to be captivated all the way through his journey to stardom. Towards the end, I even caught myself listening to it less and less each day so that it would last just a few days longer. I loved this book, and that’s owed to the narration. I’m positive ‘Yes, Chef’ would make for a great read, but there is something about hearing the story in Marcus’ raspy light voice that elevates it, makes it a bit more intimate. He doesn’t just discuss his path of becoming a chef, this is his life-story. He’s passionate, determined, motivated, structured and very serious about his food. All of that emotion and more comes through his reading.

I was completely blown away, and that is why this takes the spot as my #1 listen of 2012.

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